Saturday, November 25, 2006

The Last Couple of Days

This took me ten minutes or so. That's quick enough, but it's not the quality that I want. It's a watered down version of what others do much better. There's no depth in the face. I'm a little bit happy with this because it also happened pretty quickly, and I drew the expression that I saw even though the mom was saying, smile honey! I'm about as satisfied with this sketch as I have ever been with a 30-45 minute sketch. It was slow in the park so I drew the ever cheerful Jared. A very nosely gentleman kept passing by my stand with his friends, looking interested, and I kept pestering him, saying things like, "I can't wait to draw you." Finally, when I was about to draw a triple color face (the father had to take the little girl off to the bathroom first) this guy comes by, finally ready to get drid. Not very good timing. I had to do this in, like, 5 to 7 mintutes. These two guys took about twenty minutes all together.

I always get more enjoyment out of working on a caricature with unlimited time, working from sketches and many photographs. I like solving the mysteries of the individuals face, but I think park sketching is just as much a legitamate form of art. Being able to draw fast is part of it and there needs also to be some unique form of excitement and quality to it. This is what I'm struggling with right now, because I would rather take a half hour or forty minutes on a color face, if given the chance, but this type of art has virtually no audience, except for us, the caricature artists. This collection of photos shows a range of these approaches.